NOSH Pitch Slam Volume 8 Finals - Savorly

Speaker 1 [00:15] If you're just tuning in, you're watching NOSH Pitch Slam 8, sponsored by 301 Inc. We've heard from our first two finalists. Let's hear from our third. Those are Ethan Dabush and David Gottlib, the co-founders of Savorly. Ethan, David, how are you? Hi, very good. How are you? Great to see you once again. Likewise. All right, uh, you ready to, uh, present? Yeah, yeah. Fantastic. All right, your 5-minute timer will begin now.

Ethan [00:42] Hi, I'm Ethan. This is David, and we are the founders of Savorly. We're two childhood friends from Belgium that moved to the US. We were living together in Brooklyn, and we love to host, entertain, having people over, but quickly found out that it is unexciting to host. There are no options for something easy, fun, convenient, and tasteful, so we created Savorly. Next slide. So entertainment is parallel to fun, obviously, and that's something we've seen has been lacking in the category. So we decided we wanted to bring fun and entertainment to, uh, and excitement to entertainment. Savorly offers premium frozen appetizers set to disrupt the large sleepy and quite frankly boring category. Wanna make it Easy for people to get together with family and friends, and our consumers at Savorly know that they don't have to sacrifice quality, taste, or experience over convenience. There's this, this growing trend in the restaurant industry of plate sharing, uh, and we want to bring that into retail and consequentially into the household. Next slide. So we launch Savorly with our party bites. So these are made with um authentic French puff pastry, fresh ingredients are veggie-friendly, and are all assorted in one easy to prepare box so that's no matter what size the party is, you can offer a variety of flavors um to your guests. Now, our appetizers are ideal for every occasion and at 7.99, we're seeing consistent velocities throughout the year with a huge spike in Q4. Next slide. So the newest addition to the Savorly family is our gratin. Our gratin is a classic French dish of, uh, scallop potatoes made with cheese. So obviously, we made them smaller. We added 4 cheese. Our second gratin is made with cauliflower and broccoli, uh, to swap the potatoes, which is a great way to eat your veggies. Uh, the gratins set at 6.99, are gluten-free friendly, are the perfect appetizer, breakfast, single-ser side dish, ideal for everyday consumption. Next slide. So, who are our consumers? With Savorly, we wanted to feel a need for urban millennials like us, that are looking for quality and convenience in the kitchen. The, the urban millennial is outgoing and is seeking for new trends, uh, and natural options when, when shopping. Now, our largest fan is of Of course, the perfect host, that covers the moms, the grandmas, the dads, who have a habit of hosting and like to find new ways to impress, but they, they don't want to spend hours in the kitchen. So I can't tell you how much my mom loves our products when leaving, uh, when having guests over. Um, so this is our main market as they're already looking for products for the next entertainment opportunity. The last one, the, the non-entertainers, we are convinced that we can attract that group as well because we have a, a compelling message and, and an approach with packaging. Next slide. So after our launch mid last year, we're able to secure placement in uh over 150 stores spreading over Central Market, the Fresh Market, and one region of Whole Foods in the mid-Atlantic. And by doing so, we're able to validate our brand and our product and turning velocities beyond our own expectations for a new brand on the shelf, uh, with uh units per store per week, um, peaking at 10. And in the past few months, We've uh been able to add some exciting specialty store to our, uh, store locators such as Nugget, Draeger's and Woodlands and others. And this is part of our strategy to, um, to grow organically in that, uh, specialty sector and maintain consistent velocity. We're also super excited to share that our products have been picked up by Whole Foods Global in Q4 of this year, after the successful rotation we've had in the mid-Atlantic. Next slide. So this was our merchandizing at Whole Foods last uh December. Look, look at that beautiful display. Um, it was amazing for us to partner up with Whole Foods and, and to, to be able to show a young brand in, in such a, in such a setting. We're also supported, of course, uh, in-store demos and just It's a rewarding experience for us, honestly, to meet and talk and be able to talk and, and listen to our consumers. So we learned a lot from that and, and these learnings we put them also into practice. We fine-tuned our recipes, we have a stronger messaging, and we feel the need that our consumer has. Next slide. And we are continuously listening to our consumers and trying to find uh new ways to, to service our fans with new recipe formulations, projects, products like our turnovers that are made with uh premium flaky puff pastries in different fillings such as cheese or scrambled eggs. Our mini bagels are ready to be launched to market very soon, as well as our Mini croquettes that are not even pre-fried, uh, only pre-baked, and that's a definite call-out in itself. Um, innovation is definitely part of our DNA and living in this digital world, we're constantly looking for new, our next challenge. We won't spill too many details on the party box you see in the middle, but you should definitely be on the lookout, uh, for its launch in about 2 months. Next slide. Thank you.

Speaker 1 [05:42] All right, well done, Ethan and David. Thank you. Uh, Kiva, let's start with you. I saw you nodding, uh, during the, uh, part of the presentation when David and Ethan were talking about retail. Uh, you know, how much emphasis do you put on retail footprints, distribution, uh, as an, from an investor, from an investor perspective?

Speaker 3 [06:02] Look, in the frozen category, it's, it's so massive. That's, that's how you generate discovery. That's how you generate scale. These guys are getting into the right places right off the bat. I think what what really gets me about this brand is conceptually it's different. It speaks to a consumer need who might be walking through the aisles and very quickly capture their attention and recognizing, hey, this actually solves my problem. There's not an alternative to it, and the packaging is completely spot on to attract the consumer attention and get the hook. It's, it's fun. Uh, it, it communicates all the pieces of the brand that the guys were speaking to in their presentation. It's very rare that I think a company can do that so effectively out of the bat in retail, especially in the frozen section. Um, I think it's everything here and the guys really nailed it. Thank

Speaker 1 [06:49] you. All right. Uh, Carol, it's definitely different. Um, does it disrupt the status quo of soggy frozen apps as Ethan and David described?

Speaker 4 [07:00] Uh, having tried it, I can definitely say that it, uh, It is not soggy at all and and tastes fantastic. um I think my question is, you know, I, I like seeing where you see the brand expanding and becoming more of a platform. I think the use case for parties per se is somewhat smaller and being able to position things as size or breakfast will help expand beyond. Um, I, I personally when I saw them I'm like I don't host parties, but then I started thinking about I do have friends over for dinner or or I could use this as a side with a meal. So I think finding those ways you can dial in your marketing throughout the rest of the year when it's not the holiday season may help, uh, you to see more of a continuous sales pipeline throughout the year.

Speaker 1 [07:49] So, Pete, uh, Ethan and David, uh, outlined an innovation strategy, an innovation pipeline, talked about it being part of their DNA, um, you know, do you think they're on the right track in terms of how they're expanding and developing the brand?

Speaker 5 [08:02] No, I do, I do. And I think, uh, to a few folk, folks had mentioned earlier around the, the appetizer and this, this kind of party kind of occasion or, or when, when you have smaller groups come over, I think there's such a big white space there and there isn't brands that, that are really in that space and doing it well and having fun with it like you guys are having. I think continuing your pipeline moving in that direction unless on maybe the meal occasion and the meal replacement, I think might still be a good thing to do until your brand's Solidify it a little bit more so you don't get caught up in the hot pockets or, or pricing things with some of the larger companies that might be in that space. So, so, but, uh, I think you're spot on and I, and I love the packaging and, and, uh, yeah, and, and that, you, the only thing, the comment I would only give is the product, uh, you know, isn't, might, might not be as beautiful as it is on the packaging, so just improve almost the look of it cause the flavors are great. It's just the look, uh, as you're presenting it off to your friends, uh, I think would be important as well,

Ethan [08:59] so.

Speaker 1 [09:01] And Karen, you know, how do you think this brand fits into the Frozen set? You know, we heard from some of the other judges about uh the importance of being able to stand out in Frozen. Um, do you think it has what it takes from a packaging standpoint to really grab that attention of the shopper? Um, and from a merchandizing standpoint, uh, do you think the packaging works in that, uh, in that respect as well? Absolutely. Um, I think the brand overall is very disruptive and the innovation that you showed even more so, I think your packaging and your graphics are gorgeous, um, and I, I think you'll easily stand out. And I think everything that you're doing it with it from the recipes to the quality to the packaging is really gonna help you not get in the rut of what happens in the frozen category in terms of price and promotion. You're kind of gonna command something that other brands don't have the luxury of. All right, fantastic stuff. Ethan and David, great presentation, great feedback from the judges.